Transfer apparatus



Feb; 5, 1924; J. W. FREE TRANSFER APPARATUS Filed Oct. 12

1922 3 Sheets-She?v Feb. 5 1924.

J. W. FREE TRANSFER APPARATUS Fi led Oct. 12,

1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 fiwewrok w/rwsasza I i. KW

I Feb. 5, 1924;

V J. W. FREE TRANSFER APPARATUS Filed Oct. 12, 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 w/ rweissss Patented Pets. 5, i924.

UNETED STATES JOHN W. FREE, OF WOODLAWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

TRANSFER APPARATUS.

Application filed Getober 12, 1922. Serial No. 594,014.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, JOHN W. FREE, residing at VVoodlawn, in the county of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Transfer Apparatus, of which improvements the following is a specification.

My invention relates to transfer apparatus, and particularly to apparatus for feeding forward one by one a succession of sheets of material from a pile. It finds application in apparatus for feeding tin plate to the tin pot, and in that application I show and describe it. It is found both in the apparatus as such and in the method achieved by the apparatus in operation.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. I is a view in vertical section of apparatus in which my invention is found, associated with a tin pot of familiar construction. Fig. II is a view of a portion of this apparatus in end elevation, looking from left to right, Fig. I, the tin pot itself being for purposes of illustration removed. Figs. III, IV, and V are views to larger scale, showing in plan, in side elevation, and in section a certain suction device, and the immediately associated parts which carry it. Figs. VI, VII, and VIII are fragmentary views of certain parts shown in side elevation and in successive operative positions, and these views will be found to be illustrative of operation.

In Letters Patent of the United States, No. 1,415,166, granted May 9, 1922, on my application, I have shown and described apparatus for feding tin plate to a tin pot, and the apparatus of my present invention involves the use of such a tin pot and such a pusher as are there shown, and consists in improved apparatus for bringing the plates successively to position to be acted on by the pusher.

Referring, first, to Fig. I of the drawings, the tin pot is indicated at 1, the pusher at a I will not more minutely describe these, nor the apparatus by which the pusher 4t is reciprocated, for these things are fully described in the patent named. It will suffice here to remark that the pusher 4 is borne on a pivoted arm 6 and, with minor deviation with which this invention is not concerned and upon which it is in no way dependent nor conditioned, arm 6 swings in the arc of a circle of which the pivot point for arm 6 is the center. As the pusher iswings it ad vances from the position shown, turning clockwise, and in so doing carries forward a plate upon the rear edge of which it has made engagement, through the bath of molten tin within the pot. My present invention has wholly to do with bringing tin plates one by one to the position to be engaged by pusher 4- when, occupying the position shown, it is advancing in clockwise turning.

Adjacent the tin pot 1, and spaced at proper distance to allow the instrumentalities about to be described to be situated between and to be operated in the manner described, is a bosh 2 adapted to be filled with water, and within which plates may be introduced in packs asthey come from the washing, which follows pickling. T he pack of plates comes to position'as indicated at S in Fig. I, wholly submerged in the water which fills the bosh or substantially so. The

plates stand on edge, parallel with the line upon which the pusher l meets the rear edge of each plate in turn, somewhat inclined from vertical position, and sloping from the lower edge upwardly away from the pot.

My invention, broadly stated, consists in combinationwith means for so sustaining a pack of plates, meansfor swinging the top plate of the stack from its initial position toward the vertical, and, having so freed it from the stack, for carrying it edgewise in continuous course, first upwardly, and ultimately downwardly to the point where the pusher 4, engaging it from behind,-advances it through the tin pot. The means for carrying the plate through the course indicated involve the cooperation of several instrumentalities, as presently will appear.

Suitably spaced between tin pot 1 on one hand and bosh 2 on the other a power-driven crank shaft 3 is rotatably mounted in stationary hearings in the form of blocks 5. The axis of this shaft extends parallel with the sheets which constitute the pack S and parallel with the line along which the pusher -1 engages the rear edge of an advancing sheet.

Duplicate bell crank levers 7 are fulcrumed in stationary hearings, in the form of blocks 8, and swing on aligned axes parallel with the axis of shaft 3.. The power arm of each lever 7 is linked to a crank of shaft 3, and the parts are so proportioned and placed that, as shaft 3 turns, the work arms of. these bell crank levers swing back and forth through an approximately quadrant swing, between the i'ulLline position shown in Fig. I and the dottcd-line position. The full line position of the work arms of bell crank levers 7 is approximately vertical, as the drawing shows, and the dotted line position is approximately horizontal, and as will in the sequel be more fully explained, these levers in swinging from full-line to dotted-line position push a plate from behind and bring it to the point in its pathway of advance where, engaged by pusher 41 from behind, it is carried on through the tin pot.

Duplicate bell crank levers 9 are tulcrumed in stationary bearings, in the form of blocks 10, and swing on aligned axes parallel with the axis of shaft 3. The power arm of each lever is linked to a crank of shaft 3, and the parts are so proportioned and placed that, as'shaft 3 turns, the work arms of these levers swing back and forth through an approximately quadrant swing, between the dotted-line position shown in Fig. I and the full-line position. The dotted-line position of the work arms of bell crank levers 9 is approximately horizontal, and the full-line position approximately vertical. Taken together the total range of swing of the combined levers 7 and?) is approximately a half circle. 2

Comparing bell crank levers 7 and 9, it will be observed ,that the workarnis of levers 7 are longer than those of levers 9, the fulcrum blocks for levers 9 are arranged approximately vertically above the fulcrum blocks for levers 7, and accordingly the curves in which the ends of the work arms swing are coincident at approximately their highest point, and that the ranges of swing overlap in this region of coincidence,

Each work arm of each lever carries pivotally a pusher block.

An approximately semi-cylindrical skidway formed of bars 11 of iron sustains the plates as one by one they are pushed by the bell-crank levers 7 and 9. This skidway is on the right (Fig. I) curved concentrically with lever 9; and on the left concentrically with lever 7. A plate engaged from the rear by the pushers with which levers 9 are equipped is, by the swinging of levers 9 from dotted-line to full line position, carried over skidway 11 to a point where the pushers with which levers 7 are equipped engages it. It then is borne on over skidway 11 until it comes to the point where pushers at engage it and carry it through the pot.

In order to prevent the sheets (which are of course essentially of iron) from escaping on the down grade (the left-hand side of skidway 11), the bars which form the skidways are, in this portion at least of their e1:- t-ent magnetized. This magnetization of the inclined approach to the tin pot is described in my patent alluded to above. The course of the plates on skidway 11 be further defined by marginal flanges 12.

.Adjacent crank shaft 3 and below and substantially in common plane with hearing blocks and 8. blocks 13 constitute stationary bearings for a pivoted beam 14, and upon the otherwise free end of beam 14: a bell crank lever 15 is pivoted. Stops 16 and 17 narrowly limit the pivotal swing of beam 14. Bell crank lever 15 is linked to a crank on shaft 3. The parts are so proportioned and arranged that the limit of movement of beam 1% anticlockwise (as seen in Fig. I) is where the pivotal axis of the bell crank lever 15 is substantially coincident with the axis of levers 9,-a point which admits of adjustment, as is indicated by the form of stop 17 in Fig. I. The range of motion through which bell crank lever 15 swings on its double pivoting is from the outwardly and downwardly inclined position of its work arm, illustrated in Fig. I, to a position in which the work arm extends vertically, or substantially so.

Detailed illustration of bell crank lever 15 is aiiorded in Figs. III, IV, and V. The work arm of this lever is in the form of a cylinder 18 arranged with its axis extending longitudinally of the arm and having an extension 19 formed integrally with its head. A sleeve 20 slides freely on extension 19.

Latches 21 and 22 lock the sleeve at two different points in its range of sliding telescopically upon extension 19, to accomplish ends presently to be described.

Arms 23 extending from leeve 20 on eithe side carry pivotally at their ends suction cups 24:. The rims of the cups lie in a common plane, which extends substantially perpendicularly to the length of the work arm of the lever 15 and beyond the end of sleeve 20 at the outer limit of the range of sliding.

Within cylinder 18 works a piston 25, and the cylinder is ported through its outer head. The cylinder chamber beneath piston 25 is in pneumatic communication with the interior of cups 2% through the hollow stem 26 ofthe piston which extends within extension 19, and through the hollow cross head 27 which extends laterally through slots 28 in sleeve 20. Flexible connections 29 extend between cross head and cup. A spring 30 tends to hold piston 25 in outermost position (to the right, Fig. V) within the cylinder.

Returning to Fig. I, beam 14: and bell crank lever 15 with its sustained parts are shown in intermediate position, in the position which they occupy after the topmost sheet has been separated from the pack and when lifting is about to begin. The initial and antecedent position of beam 14 is indicated in dotted lines.

The operation of the bell crank lever and its associated parts will be understood by considering Figs. VI, VII, and VIII. But, before turning away from Fig. I, it is to be remarked that the parts whose relative positions to crank shaft 3 have been defined, are so related in their position to bosh 2 that the work arm of hell crank lever 15 extends initially toward the pack of sheets S, to make engagement upon the top sheet of the pack at its upper end, in the manner presently to be described; and further that these sheet transferring parts are so related in their position to tin pot 1 that bell crank levers 7 in their movement bring the plate to position to be engaged by pusher 4.

Fig. VI shows the parts in their initial position. As in the cycle of operation these parts are approaching this position, the crosshead 27 (Fig. III) meeting an abutment (not shown) recedes and in so doing brings the piston 25 to intermediate position in the length of cylinder 18. Following upon this, sleeve 20 slides outwardly and downwardly upon extension 19 until the rims of the cups come to engagement throughout all their extent with the exposed surface of the topmost sheet of stack S, and at the upper end of the sheet as seen in Fig. I. (The pivotal mounting of the cups facilitates this engagement.)

As shaft 3 turns anticlockwise from the position shown in Fig. VI the initial turning is, because of the weight of the parts carried by bell crank lever 15, on the pivot on which beam 14 is pivoted. During this initial movement the work arm of bell crank lever 15 moves longitudinally away from the stack S of sheets in bosh 2. This movement carries cylinder 18 and extension 19 to the left. The weight of the outwardly and downwardly extended sleeve 20 causes the cups to remain in contact with the sheet while cylinder 18 recedes to the left. A suction condition is thus set up within the cups. This suction increases as cylinder recedes to the left, until a notch in extension 19 comes into line with latch 22; whereupon the latch closes, and thereafter the parts which the work arm of lever 15 carries, move as a unit.

I The closing of latch 22 is efi'ected before the swinging beam 14 abuts against stop 17 In the interval remaining of the swing of beam 14 the topmost sheet is swung free of the pile. The parts thus come to the full-line position of Fig. I.

Further turning of shaft 3 causes bell crank lever 15 to turn on its pivotal mounting upon beam 14, and so it continues to swing through the position shown 1n Fig. VII to that shown in Fig. VIII, whlch is the limit of its range, for the driving crank is there at dead center. It will be observed that when this point is reached the work arm of bell crank lever 15 extends vertically or substantially so.

the cups have engaged the sheet, latch 22- is swung and sleeve 20 released. In Fig. V it will be noted that latch 22 has an outwardly turned rear end. This, engaging such a stop as 31 properly placed, ef-

fects unlocking. When sleeve 20 has been so unlocked, the work arm of lever 15 then extending upwardly, the sleeve and the cups which it carries will slide by gravity downward on extension 19 until it is latched by latch 21. Further turning of'crank shaft 3 causes bell crank lever (its cups now withdrawn) to swing, first on the pivot for beam 14, then on its ownpivot, until it comes again to the position shown in Fig. VI. As it comes to this position a stop 32 trips latch 21 and releases the sleeve 20. The sleeve thereupon slides downwardly and outwardly until the cups come to bearing with their rims engaging the surface of the next sheet in the stack. Thus the cycle of operation of lever 15 and the parts which it carries is completed.

Reverting to the lifting of the sheet, as

.beam 14 swings from the position shown in Fig. VI to that shown in Fig. I, carrying with it bell crank lever 15, the cups at first remain stationary (it is then that vacuum is created) and then, in consequence of the closing of latch 22, recede somewhat to the left. In this recession the top sheet at its upper edge, suctionally engaged by the cups, is separated from the underlying pack, and water gains ingress between. As in the further progress of the operation the bell crank lever begins to swing on its pivotal support on the end of beam 14, it raises the sheet and as it raises the heet the water which has so gained ingress is effective, more certainly to free the sheet throughout all its extent from the underlying pack.

The bell crank lever 15 with its suction cups raises the sheet and drags it upon skidway 11 (the center of turning being, as has been noted coincident with the center of curvature of this part of the skidway) until the rear edge of the sheet is in position to be engaged by the pushers with which bell crank levers 9 are equipped. And the parts are so coordinated that these pushers upon levers 9 engage the sheet at, or substantially at the point where the suction engagement between cups and sheet isbroken, and where the lifting effect of lever 15 ends.

A guide may insure the placement of the rear edge of the sheet for proper engage ment by the pushers of levers 9.

As lever 15 recedes levers 9 advance carry ing the sheet. forward, until with the com- 'pletion of'a half cycle, levers 7 take the sheet from levers 9. Thereupon levers 9 descend as lever 15 rises. \Vhile lever 15 is dragging a sheet up the right-hand slope of skidw'ay 11, levers '7 are pushing the preceding sheet down the left-hand slope, and as levers 9 are pushing the sheet forward on the skidway levers 7 are receding, to come to position and engage it in turn.

The following features are to be noted particularly. The cups descend and rest against the top sheet of the pack by gravity; they are not positively forced against the sheet. The advantage is that the desired engagement is made with little or-no conip'ression of the pack, and therefore with little or no tendency to increase adherence between sheets.

The extent of gravital sliding of sleeve 20 on extension 19, by which the cups come to engagement with the sheet, is variable; and thus the apparatus; adapts itself to continued automatic operation on pack of sheets of gradually diminishing thickness.

The arrangement is such, particularly in the vertical lift of the sheet as .it leaves the bosh, that a vibrator of any familiar form, or even a manually operated hammer, may tap the sheet on the inside of the curve as it advances beneath guide 33, and so fur-- ther assurance may be had that an accidentally adhering sheet may be loosened from the sheet intended to be carried, and, being loosened, will slip back by gravity into the bosh.

The initial curve of the skidway is advantageously of relatively short radius, for thus the sheets are more certainly freed of accidental adherence one to another.

There is a succession of pushers acting in sequence upon the sheet, because a swing of a single pusher or set of pushers tl'iroug'h a half circle would mechanically be difficult to derive from an adjacent power shaft.

The radius of curvature of the second half of the skidway is for structural reasons greater than of the first half.

It will be observed of the pushers carried by levers 7 that, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, they push the sheet into the tin pot and along a curvature of the guide within the tin pot which is curved reversely to skidway 11. It will further be observed that these two curves are not coincident on a line joining their centers, but that the curvature of the skidway 11 i modified intermediately, and that the levers 7 push the sheets across this region of modified curvature, the pivotal play of the p-ushers on the levers being sufiicient to allow this. This is "have mentioned I have dwelt on the necessity of having the pusher 4. come into play immediately, as soon as the advancing sheet reaches the pointwhence they are to carry it. The sheet may not without blemish be arrested when partially immersed in molten tin. That precautionary comment I repeat. The apparatus should be coordinated with that necessity in mind.

I have minutely described the machine which I have built in carrying the invention into practice. It will be understood that use ofthe invention does not require duplication of the parts which I have particularly shown and described. In the ensuing claims I define the essential features of the invention, in whatever specific form they be embodied.

Manifestly the invention in its broader aspects is applicable to the transfer of sheet material, regardless of its particular kind, and regardless of the particular reason for effecting transfer,--whether for feeding a tin pot or for some other purpose.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method herein described of separating sheets one by one from a pack, which consists in causing the pack to rest by gravity upon one edge while submerged in liquid, and imposing upon the outermost sheet two successive movements, first, a swinging movement upon its lower edge as an axis of turning, while still resting on its gravitational support, and inso doing opening an upwardly widening V-sh'aped space between it and the remainder of the pack, and, second, raising the o separated sheet upwardly through the liquid.

2. In apparatus for transferring sheets one by one from a pack, means for sustaining a pack of sheets resting upon edge by gravity while submerged in liquid, an arm pivoted to swing vertically from a transverse to an upright position, a suction cup extensible on said arm to engagement with the top sheet of the pack, a skidway curved concentrically with said swinging arm, and a second swinging arm concentric with the first, the said second swingii'ig arm being equipped with a pusher, and means for cans ing the two said arms to swingin alternation, substantially as described.

3. In tin pot feeding apparatus the (zombi nation with the tin pot of a bosh arranged adjacent to and at an interval from the tin pot, and adapted to sustain within it a pack of plates resting on edge by gravity, and in a position perpendicular to the line of advance of plates through the pot, means for swinging the top plate of the pack on its lower edge as an axis of turning transversely away from the pack at its upper edge, and means acting in succession after the swingn- (It) 1 isaeei:

ing of the sheet by the means last named, for shifting edgewise the plate so swung aside, first upward and out of the bosh and then downward and into the tin pot.

4. In tin pot feeding apparatus the combination with the tin pot of a bosh arranged adjacent to and at an interval from the tin pot and adapted to sustain within it a pack of plates resting on edge by gravity and in a position perpendicular to the line of advance of plates through the pot, an arched conveyor spanning the interval between bosh and pot, extensible and contractible and vertically movable means for first swinging a plate free of the pack and then carrying it vertically upon said conveyor and cooperating means adapted to receive a plate from the means last named and having received to carry it over said conveyor from bosh to 0t. p 5. In tin pot feeding apparatus the combination with the tin pot of a bosh arranged adjacent to and at an interval from theitin pot and adapted to sustain within it a pack of plates resting on edge by gravity and in a position perpendicular to the line of advance of plates through the pot, an arched conveyor spanning the interval between bosh and pot, and three arms pivoted intermediate bosh and pot, one arm carrying a suction device extensible upon it and adapted to lift a sheet while held by its suction device out of the bosh and along the proximate portion of the conveyor, the other two arms adapted successively to engage from the rear a plate when elevated by the means aforesaid and to push it along the conveyor and into the tin pot.

6. In a tin pot feeding apparatus the combination with the tin pot of a bosh arranged adjacent to and at an interval from the tin pot and adapted to sustain within it a pack of plates resting on edge by gravity and in a position perpendicular to the line of advance of plates through the pot, an arched conveyor spanning the interval between bosh and pot, the curvature of the arch being of less radius adjacent the bosh than adjacent the pot, two pushers adapted to push plates one by one along said conveyor one traversing the portion of the conveyor adjacent the bosh the other traversing the portion adja cent the pot and in their ranges overlapping one another, each pivoted concentrically with the portion of the conveyor which it traverses, and means for lifting plates one by one from said bosh and bringing them to position upon the conveyor for successive engagement by said pushe-rs.

7. In transfer mechanism a pivoted arm adapted to swing from a position of downward to a position of upward inclination, said arm being composed of a plurality of members extensible and contractible by gravity as the arm swings from downward to upward inclination, a suction device carried by an outer member of said arm and adapted to make contact by gravity upon an article to be transferred, means for effecting extension of the arm after the suction device has made contact upon an article, and means for swinging the arm pivotally.

8. In transfer mechanism a beam pivoted at one end, an arm pivoted to the beam at its opposite end, said arm being adapted in the range of movement of the parts to swing between a position of downward and a position of upward inclination, said arm being composed of a plurality of members extensible and contractible by gravity as the arm swings, a suction device carried by an outer member of said arm, means for locking the members of the arm one to another at a point in their range of relative movement, means for limiting the range of swing of said beam, and means for swinging engaging said arm.

9. In transfer mechanism a beam pivoted at one end, and adapted to swing between positively defined limits, an arm pivoted to the beam at itsotherwise free end, a second arm pivoted on a fixed axis coincident with the axis of the first when the said beam is at one limit of its swing, the first arm being equipped with a suction cup, the second constituting a pusher, means for swinging the beam and the arm which it carries and means for swinging the second arm in a1ternation with the first.

10. In transfer mechanism a pivoted arm composed of inner and outer extensible members, a cylinder carried by the inner member and a suction cup carried by the outer member and a piston within the cylinder, pneumatic connection between the cup and the cylinder chamber beneath the piston, and means for swinging said arm.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN W. FREE. Witnesses.

WALTER C. TITUs, G. L. LANE. 

